Workplace Relations Commission Annual Report 2025: Key Trends for Employers

On 24 April 2026, the Workplace Relations Commission (“WRC”) published its Annual Report (“Report”) for 2025. The Report provides a detailed snapshot of the current state of workplace regulation and industrial relations in Ireland and offers a useful annual overview of the issues most likely to generate workplace risk for employers. In this article, Amy McNicholas, Solicitor, reviews the key trends from the report and their implications for employers.

2025 marked a decade since the WRC’s establishment. During that period, its remit has encompassed adjudication of employment and equality complaints, dispute resolution services, and the monitoring and enforcement of employment rights. In the context of a 44% increase in complaint applications in 2025 when compared to 2024, the WRC’s role continues to be of growing importance.

The Report also reflects on the WRC’s next phase of strategic reform and service modernisation, including its Strategy Statement 2025 to 2027, alongside a renewed focus on organisational capability and operational efficiency.

Increasing Complaint Volumes

The most striking feature of the 2025 Report is the significant rise in complaint volumes. The WRC received 10,559 complaint applications in 2025, representing a 44% increase compared to 2024. While complaint volumes increased substantially, the overall mix of complaint types remained broadly consistent with the previous year. The most common complaint categories were pay related issues at 26%, unfair dismissal at 17%, and discrimination and equality claims at 14%.

These figures indicate that the usual areas of WRC exposure for employers, namely pay compliance, dismissal processes and equality obligations, continue to dominate the caseload, albeit now at a considerably higher volume.

Equality Trends: disability complaints

Equality related matters remained a significant component of the WRC’s workload in 2025, with notable growth in disability related complaints. Under the Employment Equality Acts, 1,492 complaints were referred during the year, citing a total of 1,995 grounds of discrimination. As multiple grounds may be relied upon in a single complaint, this figure reflects the breadth of issues raised rather than individual case numbers. Disability represented 31% of all grounds cited and marked a 52% increase compared with 2024.

Under the Equal Status Acts 1998-2018, the WRC recorded 708 complaint referrals, citing 1,158 grounds of discrimination. Disability again showed a significant increase and emerged as the most frequently cited ground. Employers should note that disability related issues are becoming an increasingly prominent source of litigation risk across both employment and services contexts.

Adjudication Pressure and Delays

The Report highlights ongoing operational pressures within the WRC’s Adjudication Services. The number of adjudication files created increased by 30% to 8,690 during 2025. Despite this increase, the number of hearings scheduled fell by 14%, with hearings actually held decreasing by 10%.

The WRC attributes this imbalance to hearings becoming longer, more complex and more likely to require multiple days. Contributing factors include late submissions, the growing use of sworn evidence, and more extensive cross examination. As we have experienced in our own practice, wait times for WRC hearings have also increased. By December 2025, the median number of calendar days from receipt of a complaint to the first hearing being scheduled had risen to 174 days.

Notwithstanding these pressures, there was only a modest reduction in the number of decisions and recommendations issued. In total, the WRC issued 2,506 decisions and recommendations in 2025, reinforcing its central role in employment law litigation in Ireland. From an employer perspective, these figures point to longer lead in times to hearing, particularly in complex cases. Employers need to plan accordingly in terms of resourcing, witness availability and compliance with submission deadlines to minimise the risk of adjournments.

Inspections and Enforcement Activity

The Inspection and Enforcement Division remained highly active throughout 2025, with an increase in enforcement outcomes. A total of 5,596 workplace inspection visits were carried out, of which 5,145 were closed during the year. Of the employers inspected, 1,775 were found to be in breach of employment law obligations. The WRC recovered €1,578,924 in unpaid wages over the course of 2025.

Enforcement activity also intensified, with 223 prosecutions initiated, 82% of which resulted in successful outcomes. The Report identifies Food Service Activities and the Hair and Beauty sector as having relatively high levels of non-compliance. Employers operating in sectors with historically higher enforcement findings should be particularly mindful of ongoing inspection and prosecution risk.

Strong Conciliation Performance & Growing Mediation

The WRC continues to place a strong emphasis on early and voluntary dispute resolution. During 2025, there were 540 collective referrals to conciliation, with the overall conciliation success rate remaining above 87%. Pay related disputes accounted for the largest proportion of issues referred to conciliation at 36%, followed closely by broader industrial relations matters.

Mediation activity also continued to grow. A total of 1,034 mediations took place in 2025, marking the first time the service exceeded 1,000 mediations in a single year and representing a 16% year on year increase. The overall mediation resolution rate was 54%. Following engagement with mediation services, 1,866 individual complaints concluded prior to adjudication, demonstrating the significant role mediation plays in reducing adjudication volumes.

While the rate of resolution is well below the rate we would see resolved at mediation in civil court matters, this data emphasises the benefits of early engagement and resolution, and employers should actively consider conciliation and mediation where appropriate.

Modernisation and Digital Initiatives

Strategic reform and digital development are consistent themes throughout the 2025 Report. The WRC launched its Strategy Statement 2025 to 2027 in July 2025, structured around four strategic pillars: rights protection, effective dispute resolution, enhanced public knowledge, and strengthened organisational capability.

The Report also notes an emerging trend of parties using AI assisted tools to draft submissions. In response, the WRC issued guidance emphasising that parties remain responsible for the accuracy, reliability and integrity of submissions regardless of how they are prepared. Separately, the WRC has commenced development of an internal AI powered chatbot trained on WRC documentation, with potential plans to consider a public facing version in the future.

Employers should expect both the WRC and litigants to make increasing use of digital tools and need to ensure that they are equipped to respond efficiently, while also safeguarding the quality and accuracy of submissions where AI tools are used.

Conclusion

The WRC’s Annual Report for 2025 reinforces a clear message for employers: workplace risk exposure is increasing and becoming more complex, particularly in relation to pay compliance and equality obligations. Proactive compliance remains the most effective form of risk management, including maintaining up to date policies, accurate records and robust procedures.